M17 Camo Preservation Before & After

[olboy]

Hi all

Thought I'd post & share a few images of my M17 of before and after rust convertor as I've seen many posts on such.
I bought two of these in the last week, one being a camo and one standard green.
I knew they had a film of surface rust and wanted to see how it would look after I applied carefully a rust convertor....as always it was steady as I went but there was no lifting or removal of the camo colours, none whatsoever as I was checking with a white cloth frequently.
I know some may not approve of this form of preservation but sooner rather than later it would have gone beyond preservation and eaten the camouflage paint through. At first I was taken back as to the difference but now I'm happy the way it is. Fortunately I had planned this prior to buying and I got into the minute it arrived, fortunately because what it was like when I saw it was no more rather quickly.
If anything I've preserved this for future owners when I'm gone.
I hope others see it and maybe learned something from it as much I have.

(NB) The second last image I had started to apply the convertor and then thought I'd take some images hence the gloss part of the forehead of the helmet.

[HoundsTooth]

I think you have done well here. It's always a contentious subject on whether you should do anything in these situations.
But you haven't ruined the look of the helmet, and hopefully helped preserve it for the future.
In this instance I approve.
Nick

[olboy]

Thanks Nick, it was a lot of fun doing it and I'm happy that you like it.

[Politefaun]

You did a great job at preserving the helmet and I 100% agree with what HoundsTooth wrote, the helmet look great and will be around longer because of your work. Rust is one of those few things that I think should at least tried to be treated as it will just destroy the item given no intervention occurs. The words "preservation" and "restoration" make people in any collecting hobby recoil as the person often trying to "save" an item has no idea what they're doing and will destroy it or cause lasting damage (I have a helmet with evidence of the latter from a preservation attempt).

[AZPhil]

I like it. They look great. A little on the shiny side, but it did bring out the colors.
So what is the "rust Convertor" that you used?

Semper Fi
Phil

[olboy]

You did a great job at preserving the helmet and I 100% agree with what HoundsTooth wrote, the helmet look great and will be around longer because of your work. Rust is one of those few things that I think should at least tried to be treated as it will just destroy the item given no intervention occurs. The words "preservation" and "restoration" make people in any collecting hobby recoil as the person often trying to "save" an item has no idea what they're doing and will destroy it or cause lasting damage (I have a helmet with evidence of the latter from a preservation attempt).

Thanks Politefaun.
Unfortunately I had to take it apart as it was a little worse on the inside but I'd prefer to do it right the first time.
And yes I'll only have it till I part this world but it will now survive the test of time which was also why I did it.

[olboy]

I like it. They look great. A little on the shiny side, but it did bring out the colors.
So what is the "rust Convertor" that you used?

Semper Fi
Phil

Thank you Phil.
The sheen was because of a very light coat of Renaissance wax which I know in time will lessen. The wax is not only good for ongoing preservation but it also unifies the camo colours as one. If it doesn't lessen I'll give it a light once over with 000 fine steel wool which will do the trick.

The rust converter was 'bondall Industrial strength Ranex Rustbuster'

[TWS]

Wow. I think the helmet looks noticeably better. Maybe some purists would disapprove, but I think you improved the appearance and, as noted, protected it against further rust.

I have used rust converters and inhibitors on cars before, but never dared with any of my helmets.

[olboy]

I agree TWS some will disapprove and understandably so but I wanted to do something that benefits most including the camouflage paintwork.
I equally had to be careful as it has what appears to be old mud in the vents and didn't want to disturb that with a liquid.

A better image.

[MAP]

It certainly looks nice albeit a bit shiny as noted. The camo really pops.

But I'm one of those purists I guess and would have left it as is.

I think you make a good point on restoration vs preservation. Its a very fine line. While only my view (which is fine if we disregard ), I see this as a restoration.

In the condition it was originally in, in a neutral environment, I don't think it would continue to materially deteriorate for this or the next generation.

The other reason is that we really don't know what impact the treatment will have on the helmet in the long term. Todays science can become tomorrow's quackery. Years ago, helmets were varnished and liners were bathed in all sorts of preservatives. But decades later we see the negative impact of these methods.

Still, it does look nice and I hope I'm wrong